Your Turn
This is the place where we share what the Lord has done!
To sum up my story:
My life was like a city without walls...marked by a fragmented family due to parental alcoholism, abuse, shame and neglect....life with no roots. In my early twenties, a girl began sharing Jesus with me. I was reluctant to surrender due to trust issues etc. but she was persistent! God, who is a father to the fatherless, became a shield about me and the lifter of my head!
I can't say knowing God brought me roots, as I have lived my life in many states, and a few different countries, since those early days...but He certainly became my Anchor. I've never forgotten over the WOW factor of being saved by Grace and the real tangible gift of the Presence of God.
My life has brought many different seasons...many good and plenty seasons marked by Miracles and pure Joy, and some difficult seasons marked by pain and sorrow, loss and crisis. Some unexpected winds have blown, and the pieces of my life were carried away in the tempest. Through it all, the good times and the bad, God has remained near, and He has shown Himself strong on my behalf and on behalf of my children. I have come to know that my life is hid with Christ in God, that I can trust in the strength of His Kingdom. My value is no longer up for grabs, and I need not argue with my enemy about my worth, I just remind him that I was lost when Jesus found me, and he chose me anyway. It's a done deal, and in all the years I've known Him, He has never wronged me.
...We who have fled to take hold of the Hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this Hope as an Anchor for the Soul; Firm and Steadfast. Heb. CH 6
Nanette O'Connor
I was raised in a very Christian home. We were members of a United Pentecostal Church in Corpus Christi, Texas called Calvary Tabernacle. I would never trade that experience for anything because most of my family on my mother's side were also UPC and a lot of them still are. This is where I learned to do what I really love and what really draws me into God's presence. SING! I especially love 3 and 4 part harmonies. Just ask the people that I am blessed to sing with. However there were many rules and belief that I feel caused me to rebel and stray far away from God. I was not allowed to play sports or go to movies just to mention a couple of things. We didn't have a T.V. until I was around 12. Then we would hide it when my UPC family would come to visit. By the time I was 14 or 15 I really started my journey down the wrong path. I joined the Air Force when I was 17 and the downward spiral continues. I moved back to Corpus Christi with my parents after getting into some major trouble after getting out of the service. I was around 20 years old. I started going back to church with them again and had a girlfriend that was int eh church also. That was probably the main reason I would go. We broke up a while later and I was right back away from God again. Fast forward; I marry Brenda Joy (she is my true joy) in 1985. I don't know why she put up with me through this phase of our life, from 1985 to 1998. Many things transpired in that time, many of them to embarrassing to mention. I didn't know it at the time but Brenda had petitioned my sisters to pray for us, our personal relationship and for us to start a relationship with God. We all went t church on Easter of 1998. The message was about the bride of Christ. We were asked to recite the vows along with the pastor. I decided at that moment to recite those vows and because of my strict upbringing, I knew that i could never go back on a promise that I made to God or I may incur his wrath. I didn't really understand His loving mercy and grace at the time. We decided that we should go as a family and be baptized. My daughter Kasey and I had been baptized before in a Christian church and my wife Brenda had been baptized in a Catholic church. Chas had never been baptized. So we went to someones home, and in the middle of a lightning and rain storm, we were all baptized. We have never looked back. Our children followed our lead and they both are living the Christian life. We have recently dedicated both or our grandchildren to the Lord and are committed to raising them in a loving Christian home and environment.
The one this that I am so happy about is that my mom was able to see and realize that I had given my life back to Christ before she was stricken with Alzheimer's and then going home to be with her Lord and Savior, the dame Lord and Savior that she had been relentlessly calling on to protect and to save me. I've only been walking with the lord this time since 1999, but I know He's been walking with me for the past 54 years.
We are very blessed to have found the Katy Vineyard. The past 3 years have just flown by. The relationships we are forming are I know life-long. Pastor Geoff and D'Anne are awesome leaders and I am excited about the direction we are going and the total openness to the Holy Spirit.
Alan Stephens
Last year I was losing blood somewhere in my throat and into my lungs. I was having a hard time breathing and was pretty weak. I was unable to sleep. Two specialists in Houston knew I was bleeding and wanted to locate the problem. They said that I had blood tumors in my brain, chest and throat. i had and MRI and CT scan scheduled for the first week of July.
My wife and I were in Southern California the last week of June and a friend of hers wanted me to go to a healing church called the House of Refuge. I went into a prayer room and they layed hands on me during prayer. There were seven people in the room and later when sharing our experience we all saw the same thing. The hands that were placed on me became hot, almost burning. Everyone in the room saw visions of red and purple fire near my chest. It was an intense few moments for all of us. I felt the Lord heal me. I knew I was healed at once.
I returned to Houston and had the tests performed and the doctors could not find any bleeding problems.
Shortly after this we found the Vineyard.
Gary Elofson